Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons has been one of the most vocal advocates for Steve Moore, so he kicks off his Sunday notebook with an expected statement:

Five days after the settlement was apparently reached in the case against Todd Bertuzzi, there is nothing but silence from Steve Moore and Tim Danson.

They have not announced a settlement. They have not issued a statement or a release of any kind. They have not said anything, which for Danson, the lawyer, is absolutely out of character.

This has nothing to do with any confidentiality clause being agreed to. If Danson or Moore believed a deal was done, had a signed document, they would have acknowledged so. If all parties had signed off on the agreement, all would have acknowledged the case was over.

What’s interesting here is the way the story came out, first through Bertuzzi contacts, then through his lawyer Geoff Adair, and after that from the former owner of the Vancouver Canucks, who admitted an out-of-court settlement was agreed to in the $68-million lawsuit.

The two sides being sued have insisted there is a deal. The victim, though, has said nothing.

Maybe a deal will be done in the coming days. But no matter what has been reported elsewhere, I don’t and won’t believe there is a signed agreement in place until I hear that from someone from the Moore camp.

This has been a nasty, personal piece of legal business for most of the past decade, since Bertuzzi ended Moore’s NHL career. This didn’t start well and while the Sept. 8 court date remains an unlikely possibility, this case doesn’t seem to be ending well either.

I respectfully disagree with his "opener"--there may not be a check in the mail yet, but Bertuzzi and the Canucks issuing premature statments could make them liable for another civil suit, a libel suit--but again, Simmons has been a staunch ally of Moore's since the get-go.